


Of Cupids and Fragrances

by clarkesbell



Category: Take Two (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 10:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15684021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarkesbell/pseuds/clarkesbell
Summary: Where Sam accidentally makes Eddie realize he has been in love.





	Of Cupids and Fragrances

Eddie never knew love.  
Sure, he had dated a few women and he had learned how to cherish them enough until they broke up with him, leaving him all alone afterwards. Maybe it was his job, - oh, who was he kidding? Of course it was his job, no woman wanted to date a guy who was never around - but he had learned, the hard way, that he could never get that kind of love as long as he was a PI. So, he wandered through the lanes of resignation, knowing all he would ever have were a few weeks with a girl he'd grow attached to, but would soon leave.  
He never knew love.  
So, when Sam looked up at him again and raised her eyebrows as if she wasn't sure he had heard her the first time and asked him one more time if he had ever been in love, he just shook his head. He wasn't so sure about how that topic came up. He was comfortably sipping his coffee, sitting over his office desk, while staring at the view of the city from his window when she knocked at the door and made her way to the desk, jumping right beside him with her hands hidden between her legs, to avoid the cold of that March wednesday. They talked about the wheather, they discussed the news for a while and then they felt silent. That's when she asked him.  
No, he had never been in love.  
"Why are you asking me that?" he asked, carefully leaving his emtpy coffee mug on the table and turning around to look at her. She just shrugged, still staring at the city buildings they could see from the window.  
"I don't know." She then looked back at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so nosy."  
"Hmm, I think we're past this. You've seen and heard enough of me already."  
He meant it as a joke, but her cheeks grew pinker the longer he stared at her face. Sam turned away.  
"That was a joke."  
She smiled.  
"I was just thinking... Chris told me a few things about you."  
His eyes narrowed a bit, but she wasn't looking at him.  
"Okay, first, why were you talking to Chris? And second, why were you talking to Chris about me?"  
"First, because she called me last night to check on me after that whole poison situation," she replied with a grin on her face, "and second, because I was asking her what the hell was wrong with you."  
"What in the name of God..."  
Sam looked at him and laughed. And in that moment, he cleared his throat to avoid having to deal with the warm feeling that aflicted his chest. That odd feeling had been affecting him a lot lately. He didn't know how to manage it right, and he thought about talking to Berto or even Monica - she knew a lot about people, after all - but both those options sounded ridiculous to him. He was older than both of them, it would seem as if he was a little child scared of feelings.  
No, those weren't feelings.  
Those were something else.  
He never knew love.  
"Well," she battered her eyes and looked at him amusedly, "you can be really hard to read sometimes. I know you and Chris have a thing and I thought she could give me an insight as to-"  
"A thing?", he interrupted her. "We don't have a thing."  
"Yeah, tell yourself that."  
She rolled her eyes and moved them to the window one more time. The shadow of a smile playing in her lips, where, he noticed, his eyes stood for a while. Maybe too long.  
"We're friends."  
"She told me that. I think it's more, though."  
"Why would you say that?"  
"I don't know. I never understand you."  
"Yeah, I've been telling you not to follow me everywhere when you don't have a gun to protect yourself and you don't listen. Maybe it's because you don't understand."  
"Wow, you're a douche," she laughed.  
His chest was warmer now. He was starting to see a pattern there, one he thought should be safer if ignored.  
"I mean that I can usually read people. And sometimes, I can read you too. When you let your guard down, which is almost never."  
"Hmm."  
She looked at him with curiosity, he looked back at her.  
"And you've got all those layers."  
"Yes, I do. I'm wearing two coats underneath, cause it's cold. We've established that before."  
She rolled her eyes and smiled.  
"Jesus Christ, Eddie. See? You're trying to break the topic. But I'm on track."  
"Go on."  
"Sometimes you're all uptight and serious. And other times, you're loose and fun. It's like sometimes you have this weight on your shoulders. Like there's something missing. And I don't know, I thought it could be Chris."  
"Why?"  
"As I said, you guys have your thing. It's perfect, actually."  
"Really?" He was being sarcastic, but she didn't notice. It made him smirk.  
"Yeah. You're both busy with your jobs, so no one gets to whine because of hours spent at work. You're both smart and serious. Chris is beautiful and you're... well, you know."  
"Not really."  
She sighed and looked at him with skepticism.  
"Yes, you do."  
Eddie smiled again.  
"So what you're really telling me here is that you think I need love? You're playing Cupid here?"  
"Wouldn't hurt. Eddie, I've never seen you with anyone but Chris. And you guys aren't even serious."  
He jumped off the desk and went around it in order to get a piece of paper that was laying there. He wasn't sure what it was, but that way he could avoid Sam's attention, that was now completely focused on him. She was still sitting on the desk, only now her body was turned to him.  
"That's a delicate subject?"  
"Nope, just not something I'm interested in."  
"Why?"  
"Because I'm not looking for a relationship, I'm looking for people. Cause I'm a PI."  
"Very funny."  
"Thanks, I liked it too." He smiled in amusement. "Besides, Sam... I've tried this before, alright? Dating and being a PI? Doesn't go well."  
"That's why you should try Chris. It was one of the reasons I listed, she works long hours too."  
"Sam, the reason Chris and I do well together is because we don't date. We just have an arrangement, no one gets hurt and no one has obligations. I wouldn't want to date someone who isn't available at a friday night."  
"Hmm, friday nights are very busy for us," she agreed. "But, I mean... do you intend on spending the rest of your life alone? That sounds sad."  
"You're making me sound like someone who's gonna live with 60 cats in my apartment."  
"No, you're gonna live with 60 cats at the office."  
He rolled his eyes and she giggled. Sam left the table and walked over to him. Eddie set the paper he was holding on the desk and crossed her arms to look at her. She was smiling, but her eyes were slightly sad, as if she was trying to assure him that things would work out eventually but didn't believe it herself.  
"It's just that... you're my friend, Eddie," she said. "And lately you've been a little off. I'm worried about you. I thought... well, I don't know what I thought."  
"You mean well, I know."  
Sam smiled sadly.  
He wasn't in love.  
No, the utter need to reach for her hand was merely a friend instinct. He had learned to care for Sam and she was a friend to him. And the feeling in his chest? It was just a response to her caring. They were friends.  
He wasn't in love with her.  
But then she reached for his hand and he wondered if he was just paranoid. There was nothing wrong with wanting to comfort a friend.  
Because he wasn't in love.  
"Look, maybe I'm just reading too much, or too little into it. So, if that's not the problem or even if there's no problem at all, I'm here for you. You can talk to me."  
Damn it.  
"There's no problem at all."  
She smiled.  
It felt like the whole world was suddenly lit up by that simple action and that feeling suffocated him briefly. He didn't have much time to think before she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. His arms took a while to recognize what was happening, but didn't fail to hold her close to his chest, where he could feel the slightly warmer feeling. Almost as if she was causing it.  
Oh, the hell with it. Of course she was causing it.  
But not because he was in love.  
He wasn't.  
She just happened to be the first person, in a long time, to really look at him and tell him she would be there no matter what.  
He sunk his face into her hair and inhaled her scent. He was never good with scents, he could probably confuse vanilla with bananas, but he knew that was her smell. That belonged to Sam.  
"You changed your perfume," she said.  
Suddenly her phone rang and she pulled away quickly, apologizing in the process.  
"Oh, I have to get it."  
"Who is it?"  
"I met this guy in Starbucks..." she waved her hand in the air. "I'll tell you later. Excuse me. Be right back."  
He stared at her back until the office door closed behind her.  
The warm feeling in his chest getting colder as he leaned on the desk, a different and odd feeling taking over his body.  
A feeling of loss.  
Maybe disappointment.  
He had never been in love.  
But damn, if being in love was smiling because of the mere fact that she noticed the change of his fragrance, if it was losing track of time every time she told him stories of her past, if it was feeling proud because she was another day sober - and oh, how her smile made him feel happy on the inside, if it was feeling every piece of his already cracked heart almost breaking enturely just because she met a guy in a fast food restaurant... then yeah.  
He was completely, and undeniably in love with her.


End file.
